(Im posting this in the forums since I can't post it like an article in the blog section.)
I remember the old days of gaming. That long gone era called 2008. Back when games were provided with their own custom installers, and were self-contained products that installed themselves separatedly on the computer you instaleld them. I like to call this era the "Installshield Era" of gaming. Back when game media only contained asset and binaries, and a registration window, when dialog box wizards ruled the gaming land, and when there weren't any remote validation hooks attached to executables. That is why, with increasing concern, I am watching nowadays the way our most amazing form of entertainment is rearranging itself, how market forces and anti-consumer tendencies are beggining to shape the new landscape of gaming, at the expense of the average gamer.
Big game releases nowadays are abandoning these old, anticuated components such as autorun main menus, install wizards, or dedicated servers, and have moved to the all encapsulating remote delivery methods of popular DRM schemes, such as Steam. By itself, Steam is convenient, fast if you have good internet connection, and easy to deploy. Many games were released in normal "retail" form, and were offered in Steam's store shortly after. Those instances however, are nowadays mostly the case with PC only releases from eastern european studios it seems. Steam's "next step" in gaming convenience is anything but that, and could mark the beggining of a new mandatory requirement for gaming in the future. More and more games are now announcing their complete deployment based around Valve's new Steamworks framework, touted as the "least intrusive" DRM scheme, "convenient" to gaemers and publishers alike, which takes care of formerly manual tasks like patching. They claim it isn't intrusive when compared to the likes of Securom or Tages. But I would like to point out that it is more than that. It's not only indeed intrusive, it's THE most intrusive DRM scheme to come along yet. The game is not at all installed or even located completely in your computer when you realize it. At least Securom installed itself after it let the installer copy YOUR game to YOUR hard drive. Steamworks' remote always-on cloud network remotely controls one of ITS game's installation, patching, running. When you start the game, you send a signal to the autenticathion servers situatied remotely from your location, and the order is sent back before you are able to game. You are asked for an authorization each time to play the games you paid a hefty premium to be allowed some few hours of playimte. It's the arcade coin-up model. We've gone back full circle, to the arcade machins of old times. It may as well place a coin slot in your computer. It's like trying the games you paid for thru a remote terminal. A service that, much like an arcade place, can close up in after hours, or at the discretion of their owners. The access to the games you are allowed to try remotely can be switched off at any moment without any explanation from the providers, and you are effectively out. Cloud based gaming, and software as a service don't look like a good idea afterall under these terms.
"Blah blah, who cares, I don't have to deal with DVDs anymore!" Maybe this is really making mountains out of molehills. Steam does have it's merits, which mostly come from giving smaller indie developers a storefront to showcase their creations without needing a traditional expensive distribution contract. Companies like Tripwire and 2d boy have been the most vocal about their praise for steam, with Tripwire saying they wouldn't be around without Steam. This piece is not an anti-steam call to arms, it's just an informational soundbyte, just to express concern about the trend Steamworks is creating, which isn't 100% in reality as advertised in the package. A steamworks game instantly becomes a steam exclusive game. That situation could become the beggining of a monopoly. Maybe this is a good time for competitors to shine.
I am not worried ( I only buy Stardock games from Impulse) but I would prefer if Impulse was able to compete (Impulse currently dont compete against other services outside of USA - I cant buy many/most games from Impulse even if I wanted because of region limits - unlike D2D, Steam and GG).
btw.: Magicka wont have non-Steam version
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?527049-Magicka-Weekly-Community-Update-18th-of-March-2011
I can understand the reasoning, and Paradox isn't Impulse-hostile by any stretch. That said, their CEO says he likes Steam because he can cancel activations on publishers who don't pay up, which both Paradox and Stardock have had trouble with. Never thought of that before, though I'm sure Impulse could do the same thing.
The thing is, Impulse is going to be relevant as long as there are games I want coming out for it, unless steam makes client-free playing. I won't pay full price for a Steam game due to this (TW2 I only got due to GG's $18 of credit they offered)
That said, Reactor has to position itself as something that will allow Steam and non-Steam versions of games to play nice.
Looks like Impulse::Reactor wasn't able to solve those problems like Brad Wardell had hoped two months ago:
http://forums.impulsedriven.com/404485/page/2/#2877918
Yeah, I remember that Paradox had to sue some distributor (lawsuit was resolved last year IIRC) to get their money.
Impulse::Reactor is still in beta so it won't be an option for Magicka.
In the long-run, Impulse::Reactor will provide a viable alternative. There's no point in fretting this sort of thing presently. It's not like GameSpy or Securom being available earlier than Steamworks provided an obstacle for Steamworks.
Game developers will use the platforms that make the most sense to them for a given project.
The problem here will be marketing. You have to show/prove that there are folks out there who dislike Steam, and using Reactor will allow pubs/devs to get the benefits of Steam, while not losing the sales of Steam haters. (That's an extra 10% revenue for them potentially)
Maybe even offer a few small sweetheart deals to start?
IMO, based on polls I saw at several gaming sites its just 3-5%.
That's market share for Impulse I believe , not the total amount of Steam-haters. Also there are folks who will use Steam yet don't like it much (like me)
That sounds about right for the number of steam haters too. Once you get away from forums like this where you've got a group of them together, they aren't a factor. Steam is actually pretty popular.
Yeah, I'm saying 10% or so. I'm also counting people who use Steam but prefer non-Steam.
Dead Island may use Steamworks only on Steam but in other place not.
Unlikely - Its using VAC for anticheat, so non-Steam version would have to be singleplayer only.
I'd still rather have a solid, physical, DvD I can put on my shelf. I'll take those over Digital Only Downloads any day of the week, period. I have a sad feeling though that the farther we get into the future the more and more solid media will be going the way of the dinosaur as far as PC gaming is concerned, and I can still only help but think that over-all that's a Bad Thing for many reasons. Even now, my family is having such a hard time with bills we're seriously thinking about having our cable shut off. Soon we might not have any other choice. I'll try to keep the internet if it does come to that of course. I watch almost all of my TV shows (the few I do watch) online anyway, but the rest of my family still watches TV. If we end up getting our cable shut off and keeping the internet I'll have to teach the rest of the family how to use the computers so they can watch their shows...*sigh*.
There's also the question of how many of the 3-5% who refuse to use Steam would be willing to use Impulse Reactor. I got the sense that many of them are opposed to DRM in any form.
In terms of game libraries, I'm the opposite of RavenX. I'd rather have a digital one then a physical one any day. I've lost track of how many physical copies of games I've lost, damaged, or simply decided wasn't worth the effort of moving to a new apartment.
It's not just going away for PC gaming, it's going away for everything. DVDs are being replaced by stuff like On Demand and Netflix streaming (which is where Netflix considers the future of their business to be, not in mailing stuff). The cost of pressing and shipping disks just doesn't make sense in a world where we can send stuff across wires in a reasonable time frame at a fraction of the cost. Particularly since you don't have to guess how many will sell and then get rid of them when they don't (or face shortages if they do).
The Internet is one of those revolutioary technologies that turns things upside down. Selling physical media is something that's being hit. At this point, there's no stopping it.
That's unfortunately very true. There is one thing that can stop it for people though, and that's simply not having access to it, by either not having the ability to get online because of where you live, or by not being able to afford it. Not to mention natural disasters that can cut people off from being online because of lack of electricity or wires being destroyed (granted that's a bit harder since most of them are buried). It almost makes me wish we'd get hit with a massive solar flare that would take out the countries ability to get online or something right at the hight of this change over to "digital everything".
I'm not saying it doesn't have it's advantages. I watch a LOT of stuff on Netflix "Watch Instantly" service, either through my PC or through my Wii (I haven't tried it on my XBox360 yet). For some things, like movies for instance, I like being able to watch it anytime I want online, but, if I own the physical DvD I can also watch it anytime I want and Not Need an online service or cable or anything else, just the electric to power my TV and DvD/Blu Ray player. Some of us "old timers" also take pride in our "collections" and in showing off those collections. The fact that I have games on CD and DvD that I've had for over 10 years is a small matter of pride for me. That also means that anytime I want, I can take one off my shelf and re-install it and play it whenever I want. We should all keep in mind, as it has happened in the past, that companies and services can and do go under all the time, which can wipe out a whole collection unless the user/owner has it backed up somewhere.
Brad (Frogboy) has mentioned in the past that even if something terrible were to happen someday and Stardock wouldn't be around as a company that those of us who have bought games will ALWAYS be able to get online and download the games we've paid for, even if Stardock isn't around anymore. Now, I'm sure right now and for the far foreseeable future he or someone related to the business will have the financial means to back that up, but, can he Really guarantee that will be the case in..let's say...50 Years? Hell, even 20 years? Granted most of us won't want to kick back and enjoy a game of Elemental 20 years from now, but you never know, maybe one of us will and will actually be lucky enough to have a computer that's old enough and still working that can run it. Without a disk though, if Stardock isn't still around in 20 years, how will you be able to get your hands on it to play it?
We should also keep in mind that in many cases, once things get really old, they become quite valuable. I collect comic books as well and I have some really old books. The oldest book I have is "Amazing Spider-Man #6" which is the first appearance of "The Lizard". In Near Mint condition the book is worth $3750 dollars. Mine isn't in near mint unfortunately, but it is in what's called "Good Condition". The pages are slightly yellowed from age, but the colors are still bright and vibrant and none of the pages are torn. I could probably get at least 2K out of it to a serious collector who was only missing that issue from his collection. If that was a "Digital Comic" however, it wouldn't be worth anything at all. The same thing can be applied to games and disks. Yes, there are actual game disks out there that are worth a Lot more than their original cost if they still work and aren't scratched up. The current price for the game "Ultima: Escape from Mt Drash", which is so old it's a game on Tape Cassette, its valued at $2500. So, even video games, if saved and taken care of, can be worth a Lot of money to collectors when they get really old. Old game collections won't be worth anything in the far future if everything is on a hard drive on a server somewhere.
Even though there are advantages of having everything digital, like not having to keep track of disks and old boxes, or being able to download and play or watch something whenever you want, there are just as many disadvantages like not being able to afford an online service, or not living in an area with a decent connection, and there's also the loss of not being able to collect something until it's so old that it's worth a lot of money simply because it's very old and still in working condition.
People today seem to only see the technological advantages of these new systems and they don't see or just don't care about what's being lost in the transition. They don't think that "Hey, you know, some day I might be really poor and not be able to afford to get online and have access to my digital downloads.", at which point they'll probably regret not having a physical disk they can install even without the internet. Notice with the "Fallen Enchantress" expansion for Elemental Brad has already said it will be "Digital Download ONLY". You know why that is? I think I've got a pretty good idea why. Because so many people are getting free copies of it that if Stardock did put it on disk and everyone who was owed one wanted it on disk that they'd loose a Lot Of Money having to make all those disks and boxes and ship them to the people like us who are getting two free expansions. I'm also willing to bet the next expansion will be "Digital Download ONLY" as well.
If I don't have access to the internet when the expansions come out I'm going to have to send money to Stardock so they can mail me a "back-up disk" copy of the expansions which Brad mentioned a long time ago when someone else brought up a similar topic to this about digital copies. Now I'm also wondering that if I have to do that, will I even be able to play them if I can't get online to activate them?
Hmm....thinking about it more, with everything going this way, people who don't have access to the internet because of whatever reason are going to be getting completely screwed over...
The thing is- Stardock games in such a situation would be very easy to set up pirate versions for, so I'm not too worried about it.
BTW- the expansions being DD only , Stardock did that with GalCiv also. No need for the tinfoil hat on this one- it's a business profitability decision, not an anti-piracy decision.
You also can archive to disk yourself if you so choose, and Stardock has said they'll offer updated discs in the future for a small charge. I'm sure those updated discs will be install and play like the retail copies, otherwise there is no point.
Indeed, no tinfoil hats here...lol . GalCiv wasn't DD only though was it? Unless you mean the first one. I've seen GalCiv 2 in boxes in stores, as well as the expansions.
If a flare that large happens, the power grid is going down with it and it won't matter that you have CDs.
Given our track record in keeping old formats readable, in 50 years you won't have a drive capable of playing DVDs. Most computers can't read 3.5 floppies anymore, and almost nobody has 5.25 readers. Anything older then that? Good luck. NASA has a huge problem with libraries of data that are on formats which are increasingly unreadable.
Game collections on a server somewhere also can't be wiped out by your house catching fire, floods, hurricanes, or simply tripping and breaking the disk while going up the stairs with it. They're also not very useful because of the last problem I mentioned. Who can actually play that copy of Ultima? A comic book can be read by anybody with eyes.
People today are increasingly deciding that the advantages are better then the disadvantages. That's especially true in games, because it's opened up the market to so many developers. Indie games thrive online because distribution costs are so low, whereas they barely exist in the retail space. Stores don't want to carry such low volume high risk games because of the cost. That's not a problem online.
Having the option to play games like Recettear that never would have been brought to North America without DD? I'll take that every day of the week.
(Twilight of the Arnor was the digital only expansion to GalCiv 2. It was Dark Avatar that was in stores.)
I guess my thoughts are that if I were ever so poor that I could not afford internet, then not being able to play my old games would be a pretty insignificant problem compared to all of the other problems that I'd be facing. It's hard to imagine a situation where I would be at such a crippling level of poverty that I would give up something as essential to daily living as the internet, while still being in a position to have an extensive gaming library and a computer capable of running those games.
I agree.
Hard to say. No one knows for sure and I believe people will exagerrate to be sure that "their" camp wins. I know, since I've done that myself
Those who can't accept any type of DRM are from the computers early era and have apparently deluded themselves that "their" software is truly "THEIRS!" ....It's not. It never was and will never be. The wild west of computers are coming to an end. Those who refuse to realize that will in a very close future NOT be a part of the computer (and possible console) games market anymore.
Indeed. That is why everyone today now uses Xfire. I think we can all agree that Xfire is the future and everyone should simply adopt that. I think Steamworks and Impulse::Reactor should just give up and adopt it for all their community gaming features.
Meanwhile at Microsoft:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/03/20/leaked-microsofts-work-in-progress-vision-of-the-future-of-games-for-windows-live/
/facepalm/
Microsoft would be so much better off if they just used Impulse as GFWL. It makes so much sense, why don't they do it? Would be a win for both companies
Stardock would get more high-end games to gain market share
Microsoft would get a platform for PC that doesn't suck.
It's not like they're not used to working together on top of that. It just seems like a no-brainer to me. (I'm sure MSFT Egos and mid-level managers are getting in the way though- as it has to be "their baby")
Personally, I prefer the Impulse model, because I know Stardock, should something happen businesswise, can't brick my games if I dispute charges due to a theoretical dispute in the future. They might (and probably would) be able to brick me out of updates, but not the games I paid for.* My issues with Steam are the client wonkiness (Impulse's wonkiness doesn't stop me from playing games when it happens), and the unfair TOS. This is why I want Reactor to do well, so I have an alternative, and hopefully Steam changes to match Reactor due to competitiveness. I want competition, I don't want Steam to go away, but I want them to have to compete.
* I don't expect to ever have a problem with Stardock, but things can happen.
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